The wounded tiger roars

A five-time MP from Bangalore North constituency until he lost to the BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections, CK Jaffer Sharief is all set for a comeback this time.

Sharief is known for breaking records when it comes to winning margins.

His 1,75,895 margin in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls is just one example. In this election, he polled 5,25,523 votes, over 50% of the total valid votes polled.

Being the tallest minority leader from Karnataka, Sharief has been a major trump card for the Congress in a constituency which has a huge number of minority votes.

The Congress in the state plunged into a crisis when he threatened to resign from the primary membership of the party, expressing his unhappiness about party politics. He was reportedly unhappy over the decision of the party to give a ticket to former minister R Roshan Baig from Shivajinagar during previous assembly polls.

Sharief is also known as a great poll tactician and for setting election agendas as the chairman of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Manifesto Committee.

Sharief’s another strength is that he has maintained very good relations with leaders from across the political spectrum, be it JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda or BSP chief Mayawati or Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar.

His clout in the Congress is also because he is seen to be a “traditional” leader who has served rather well in the cabinets of prime ministers Indira Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao.